Crimson Dark News
Prologue 00.00 (Untitled) Monday, the 22nd of May, 2006 UPDATED The art for this page was updated on 29/09/2006. If you wish to see the original version, please click here. 00.01 UPDATED Tuesday, the 23rd of May, 2006 UPDATED The art for this page was updated on 29/09/2006. To see the original version of this page, please click here. 00.02 UPDATED Wednesday, the 24th of May, 2006 UPDATED The art for this page was updated on 29/09/2006. To see the original version of this page, please click here. 00.03 UPDATED Thursday, the 25th of May, 2006 The artwork for this page has been updated. 00.04 UPDATED Friday, the 26th of May, 2006 The artwork for this page has been updated. 00.05 UPDATED Saturday, the 27th of May, 2006 The artwork for this page has been updated. 00.06 No News Sunday, the 28th of May, 2006 No news for today. 00.07 No News Sunday, the 28th of May, 2006 No news for today. 00.08 No News Sunday, the 28th of May, 2006 No news for today. 00.09 Here we go! Thursday, the 1st of June, 2006 Well after years of back-breaking toil (aka: weeks of sitting in front of a computer), Crimson Dark is ready to roll! I'm simultaneously excited and terrified. I'm excited that I can finally inflict this webcomic on the world at large, terrified that the world isn't going to like it. I'm therefore eager to hear from you. Do you like it so far? Do you like the website? More importantly, do you have any suggestions for how I can improve things? You can email me using the link at the top of this page, or you can sign up for our shiny new forum. I’ve put the first ten pages (including the title page) up straight away, so you can start to get a feel for Crimson Dark. From tomorrow, updates will occur every Monday and Friday. The current story is a prologue, designed to introduce you to one of the key characters and establish some of the setting. Before you ask, yes, I’m both the writer and artist for CD. I use a combination of 3D and 2D and traditional art, software such as Cinema 4D, Illustrator and Photoshop – plus that terribly old-fashioned thing called a ‘pencil’. 00.10 Here we go! Thursday, the 1st of June, 2006 Well after years of back-breaking toil (aka: weeks of sitting in front of a computer), Crimson Dark is ready to roll! I'm simultaneously excited and terrified. I'm excited that I can finally inflict this webcomic on the world at large, terrified that the world isn't going to like it. I'm therefore eager to hear from you. Do you like it so far? Do you like the website? More importantly, do you have any suggestions for how I can improve things? You can email me using the link at the top of this page, or you can sign up for our shiny new forum. I’ve put the first ten pages (including the title page) up straight away, so you can start to get a feel for Crimson Dark. From tomorrow, updates will occur every Monday and Friday. The current story is a prologue, designed to introduce you to one of the key characters and establish some of the setting. Before you ask, yes, I’m both the writer and artist for CD. I use a combination of 3D and 2D and traditional art, software such as Cinema 4D, Illustrator and Photoshop – plus that terribly old-fashioned thing called a ‘pencil’. 00.11 New page, new wallpapers and more... Monday, the 5th of June, 2006 Page 11 should be up now, featuring one panel I'm particularly proud of. I had a lot of fun making that HUD! I've made a couple of improvements to the site. First of all I've added a couple of new wallpapers to the extras section. One is of Control (aka 'Bob'), the other is of Kari. If you have any suggestions for further wallpapers, sign up for the Crimson Dark forum and let me know. Secondly I've added a RSS feed to make it easier to keep track of new pages and news - just click the link in the navbar. I'm really pleased by the feedback you guys have been providing. I'm delighted to see that people like the comic so far, and I'm enjoying the speculation about where the story is headed. I'm working on the script for chapter 1 at the moment, which won't appear here for a few more weeks yet, but I can't wait to show you! Also, keep the constructive criticism rolling in, it's been extremely helpful and very encouraging. I thought the internet was supposed to be full of morons and jerks, but I don't know where they've gone because you guys have been very kind! Finally, if you're enjoying Crimson Dark, please spread the word, the more, the merrier. 00.12 (Untitled) Friday, the 9th of June, 2006 Page 12 is up, huzzah. I've also added my LiveJournal feed to this page (beneath this news post) so you can keep track of my crazed ramblings. Why you'd want to is a question worthy of a thesis, bearing a title like "Gluttons for punishment: a case study." Im hard at work on Chapter 1, building sets, designing characters, writing the script. 00.13 My fellow Australians Monday, the 12th of June, 2006 It occurs to me that some readers may be confused by the update schedule for Crimson Dark, especially those who live in Australia (as I do). When I say the strip updates every Monday and Friday, it's actually based on US time (since the vast majority of webcomic readers happen to live there), so the good citizens of the United States of America (plus Canada, Mexico etc.) will be able to wake up on Monday morning and have a new page waiting for them. Sadly this means that Aussies have to wait until 5pm Mondays (if you're on the East coast) for an update, so you are able to get home from a hard days' work and find a new page waiting for you. On a completely unrelated topic: Go Socceroos! 00.14 My fellow Australians Monday, the 12th of June, 2006 It occurs to me that some readers may be confused by the update schedule for Crimson Dark, especially those who live in Australia (as I do). When I say the strip updates every Monday and Friday, it's actually based on US time (since the vast majority of webcomic readers happen to live there), so the good citizens of the United States of America (plus Canada, Mexico etc.) will be able to wake up on Monday morning and have a new page waiting for them. Sadly this means that Aussies have to wait until 5pm Mondays (if you're on the East coast) for an update, so you are able to get home from a hard days' work and find a new page waiting for you. On a completely unrelated topic: Go Socceroos! 00.15 In which something goes BOOM Monday, the 19th of June, 2006 With page 15 now online, there are just three pages to go before we reach the end of the Prologue. I'm still building sets and working on the script for Chapter 1, but so far everything's on schedule. Some trivia: The two Gerushda-class destroyers are named "Hispania" and "Forester". I went to all the trouble of printing the names onto the ships' hulls, but it's not really visible, so I thought I'd just come out and tell you. 00.16 Website updates Friday, the 23rd of June, 2006 The glossary section has been updated. It now includes the Gerushda class Destroyer, as well as descriptions of some of the governments of the Crimson Dark universe. If you're wondering what this war is all about, this is the best place to start. Oh, and happy birthday Joss Whedon! 00.17 Website updates Friday, the 23rd of June, 2006 The glossary section has been updated. It now includes the Gerushda class Destroyer, as well as descriptions of some of the governments of the Crimson Dark universe. If you're wondering what this war is all about, this is the best place to start. Oh, and happy birthday Joss Whedon! 00.18 Here ends the Prologue Friday, the 30th of June, 2006 Ooooh, cliffhanger ending - I invented that conept, I assure you. Next week Chapter 1 begins, with the title page on Monday and Page 1 on Friday. I’ve changed my style a little for Chapter 1, so I’m hoping it will look and read a lot better. The Prologue has been a huge learning experience for me, and I’ve learned a great deal already – thanks in large to reader feedback. Chapter 1 01.00 (Untitled) Monday, the 3rd of July, 2006 I just can't resist it, I *must* succumb to temptation and employ one of the most overused clichés of Sci-Fi and Fantasy: "And so it begins!" (ugh, I feel dirty now) This new starship took weeks to build, and I had to restart from scratch twice. It’s one thing to build a nice-looking ship, it’s something else entirely to have an exterior which matches up with internal sets. The first design was too small, the second was too large, the third is juuuust right. 01.01 Experimentation Friday, the 7th of July, 2006 Yeah, I know, the character art is a little off in today’s page. I’m experimenting with some new techniques so the next few pages are going to fluctuate a little as I try one process after another. Indeed one character will magically change his face in a feat worthy of Odo himself. Don’t worry, I’m working towards a consistent style and I think I’m almost there. Your feedback, as ever, would be greatly appreciated. Today's snippet of ego-stroking trivia: The bridge in today's update matches perfectly with the windows of the exterior model, compare with the Title page if you don't believe me. 01.02 A Doctor and a scary girl Monday, the 10th of July, 2006 Page 2 is up, and we've now met all of the main characters – albeit briefly. The art style is still being tweaked, so expect some further changes/improvements over the next few pages. I’d love to hear what you think of Chapter 1 so far, so swing by the forum and let me know – or just send me an email. I really want to make CD as good as it can possibly be, and I'd really appreciate your help in making that happen. 01.03 I know how she feels Friday, the 14th of July, 2006 Yup, once again things look a little different for the latest update. I think I’m finally starting to settle on a specific style for the art – and the combination of 3D and 2D elements doesn’t seem as jarring as it used to be. That’s what I think anyway, what do you think? Stay tuned for some improvements to the site over the next few weeks. 01.04 What a difference a GUID makes Monday, the 17th of July, 2006 One reader pointed out that the RSS feed doesn't seem to have been updating properly. I've taken a look and I think that I've fixed it, but if you're still having troubles, please let me know. Somehow, fixing a problem by adding a single line of code just seems too easy. Meanwhile I've given the whole site something of a facelift. The old colour scheme made sense, since it was... well... crimson... but it was starting to make my eyes bleed. I hope the new design will be easier on the eyes, and there's a new logo to go with it at the top-left of the page. I've also gone and added an 'About' section, which now incorporates the old glossary along with a FAQ which answers questions like "How do I make Crimson Dark?" and "Why is it called Crimson Dark?". Let me know what you think of these changes. 01.05 I'm not left-handed either Friday, the 21st of July, 2006 Ok, I've finally updated the Characters section to reflect the changes in Chapter 1, including some basic background information on the crew of Niobe. You don't need to know it in order to enjoy the story, but it's there if you're looking for that extra bit of detail. I have also added Niobe to the ship list in the glossary. Meanwhile I've splurged a little and bought some advertising space on Digital Strips, who will also be reviewing Crimson Dark sometime next week on their blog. If you're a webcomic reader, then these guys are well worth checking out. I'm still wrestling with the RSS feed. 01.06 Eek! Monday, the 24th of July, 2006 Sorry about being five hours late on today's update. Would you believe I forgot? That's the kind of day I'm having. Not a bad day, just an odd one. It looks like the RSS feed is now updating properly in third-party newsreaders - mind you, I've only tested Thunderbird and Feedreeder, so please let me know if you're still having problems. The issue now is working out why the comic image doesn't load in Feedreader (and, I assume, other dedicated RSS readers). The code all looks fine, and the image link is good, so maybe it's a problem with my server. Such questions give me a headache. I keep on meaning to draw people's atention to Starship Dimensions. It's one of the geekiest websites in existence, and I love it. 01.07 Latin for left-handed Friday, the 28th of July, 2006 Did you think I had forgotten the dark, sinister figure last seen clutching the exterior of Kari's Scimitar at the end of the Prologue? Don't worry, Chapter 1 really is going somewhere (umm.... besides, you know, Chapter 2). 01.08 A post-holer. For digging holes. For posts. Monday, the 31st of July, 2006 If it looks like there's a hole in today's page, that's because there is. I left the second panel clear for a while, intending to fill it with something, but in the end I decided that I like having that black space there - it gives the rest of the panels some room to breath. So far I have resisted the temptation to insert the text "this panel intentionally left blank". I've made a minor change to the website, so news will appear in the comic archives. Thus if you're browsing through older pages you can still read the news/rant associated with them - for prosperity's sake. No, wait, posterity. Why do I always get those two mixed up? 01.09 Home. Friday, the 4th of August, 2006 I'm still experimenting with the art, with each passing page. For this page I've tried to pay closer attention to dramatic lighting - I've realised that I've been overly obsessed with trying to keep everyone brightly lit, but I'm starting to understand that "brightly lit" and "well lit" are not necessarily the same thing. I have also done something which I never thought I was going to do: I've made the speech bubbles slightly transparent. In the past it has always looked kind of pretentious to me, like an artist loves his own work so much that he can’t bear the thought of obscuring it with pesky words and stuff. In fact some photoshopped comics have bubbles so transparent that it makes the text harder to read than it ought to be – I don't see how that can be a good thing. But when so much of the page is in darkness, and there's an emphasis on contrasting darkness with light, I’m starting to see the virtue in bumping the layer opacity down a little – just a little. It doesn’t interfere with the readability of the text, but it's less jarring against the art. I think it helps gel the whole page together. What do you think? 01.10 For those who haven’t read the character summaries in the about section: Yes, Vaegyr and Larissa are married. The final panel of this page includes a poster based on a design for sale at Black Market Beagles (used with permission). If you’re a fan of Firefly/Serenity, then you definitely want to go and check them out, a great collection of unofficial merchandise. Which prompts two questions: 1. Are Vaegyr and Larissa fans of Firefly? Answer: Yes. 2. Are people still *watching* Firefly in the 27th century? That’s a fair question. Seven hundred years is a very long time for a television series to survive, especially a series which didn’t even make it to the end of its first season. But here’s my answer: “Quality endures”. Today, people still watch classic shows. Sure, The Day the Earth Stood Still may be dated in a lot of ways, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great story. Similarly, people still watch Charlie Chaplin, or the Marx Brothers, because they are still funny. The history of film and TV is littered with a tremendous amount of tripe which has been mostly forgotten, and rightly so. But the quality material endures. This is perhaps why we sometimes have a rose-tinted recollection of the good old days of TV and film, because we have filtered out all of the garbage and are left with only the sweet, shiny goodness to recall. But is seven hundred years too long for a story to survive? Well Shakespeare has survived for over four hundred years, The Song of Roland for nearly a thousand years. Beowulf is even older than that. Then there are the classic plays of Greece and Rome. And don’t forget the Epic of Gilgamesh, which has survived for as long as four millennia. So am I saying that Firefly is comparable to Shakespeare? Yes! And I’m not the first to make the comparison either. 01.11 It's Texturific! Friday, the 11th of August, 2006 (sigh, everytime I think that I've invented a cool, new word, I check google and find out that it's been in use for years now. There really is "nothing new under the sun") Huzzah! I've been looking forward to taking the story into a new star system for a while now. Finally a new starfield, a pretty nebula and some new lighting to play around with. I've been putting a lot of effort into honing my 3D skills, which means that over the next few week's there should be an increase in the quality of the art. Better textures, more detailed models, more attention to lighting etc. You can see the first few samples of these new textures on this page - mainly in the walls and floor of the lounge, and in Niobe's hull. I'm trying to give everything a grittier feel. Meanwhile, I stumbled across this incredibly cool list of webcomic tutorials by Joel Fagin, which have done a great job of showing me what's wrong with this site. I have therefore made a number of changes. Most notably I have removed the sidebar when viewing the comic itself, and reduced the filesize for each page (in some cases halving it) - making the site more friendly towards dial-up users, and those working with their monitors at 800x600. I've also reformatted some of the text, especially in the About section, to make it easier to read. 01.12 Clothes of Coolness +2 Monday, the 14th of August, 2006 Crimson Dark was linked to at Whedonesque, huzzah! Whereas the sitehad been receiving a little over 100 unique visitors per day, Saturday’s windfall increased it to nearly two thousand. Wow. So to all my new readers: Welcome! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your stay. Feel free to take your shoes off - but if you value your life, don't open the fridge. Yes, Larissa is wearing yet another outfit in today’s page. To be honest, I was never happy with her previous outfits, and it’s only now that I’ve finally given her some clothes which I like. My next challenge? More realistic specular sheen on the characters’ skin. Hal looks like he's made of clay in the first panel... Meanwhile I've turned off domain masking, as people have said they want to be able to easily bookmark the "latest comic" page. I'm trying to find a way to mask just the domain, while still showing the full path... and now my brain hurts. 01.13 Good news everyone! Friday, the 18th of August, 2006 As of next week, Crimson Dark will be updating thrice a week, instead of twice! The schedule will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm aware of how frustrating it can be to only get two updates a week for an ongoing story, especially when things start to get a bit tense. Although I'm paying more attention to detail with each panel, and constantly adding new layers and effects to try and capture that elusive "look" which I'm aiming for... I have also found countless shortcuts which have dramatically decreased the overall time it all takes. If I really throw myself into it, I can now complete an entire page of Crimson Dark in less than a day - though if I were to do this every day then my already miniscule social life would become practically microscopic. Anyway, the upshot is: I have condluded that I can produce extra pages without falling behind. I hope. If someone decides to employ me (though I can't imagine why) then this would almost certainly have to change. Meanwhile, Crimson Dark has been reviewed by Digital Strips. Daku had many nice things to say, possibly the most flattering of which was "it reminds me quite a bit of firefly"... it's hard to think of higher praise. Today's page is not the best that I've ever produced, but far better than it was going to be. I originally decided to experiment with having a completely line-free page, but the result was remarkably ugly. I was going to just upload it along with an apology, but when I looked at it this morning I realised that I *had* to go and fix it up. It's still not exactly how I wanted it to be, but it will do. 01.14 They were forced to eat Robin's minstrels Monday, the 21st of August, 2006 I have a secret to tell you, just between the two of us... that's not the same nebula in the background as on page 11. I wasn't happy with the old one, so I made a replacement nebula using a new process I've been developing, and matched the colours with the old. Shh, don't tell anyone. The is the second page where I tried putting it together without any 'inking' lines, but changed my mind. I made pages 13 and 14 simultaneously so by the time I decided that I didn't like the look, I realised I had *two* pages which needed fixing. Again, this page hasn't turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I made a mess of Daniel's shirt in the sixth panel (neatly obscured by a speech bubble) and Whisper and Hal seem to have just dissapeared... Never mind, I'm learning. The next page will be better, I guarantee it. Speaking of the next page, don't forget that it's going up on Wednesday instead of Friday. (and there was much rejoicing). 01.15 Handy for reading in bed Wednesday, the 23rd of August, 2006 Yay, my first Wednesday update! God-willing, the first of many. I'm really pleased with this page, particularly the first panel. It nicely shows off the new textures I've been working on, and I'm having much more fun with lighting than I used to. Yes, Hal's ocular augmentation also serves as a torch. I spent a while trying to decide what colour that energy beam should be. I didn't want it to be red, because these things are always red and I have enough red beams in the prologue as it is. I considered yellow/orange, because I think they would look nice, but Niobe's colour scheme is based around earth-tones, and I wanted something which would contrast harshly - we need to see this moment as an intrusion. Purple would just be too purple, so it came down to a choice between blue and green. I compromised and made it cyan. (notice that it is *not* a LASER beam. If it was a LASER beam, then it wouldn't be visible at all, would it?) 01.16 Eek, blood! Friday, the 25th of August, 2006 It was difficult to decide how much blood was too much (or too little). I’m not one who enjoys excessive amounts of blood and gore, I go out of my way to avoid horror films and the like, but at the same time I firmly believe in being honest about the ugliness of violence. In Star Trek, Phasers allow for a kind of sanitised violence. When somebody gets shot their chest will glow for a moment and they’ll fall down dead. It’s so clean, so easy. There are exceptions to this (Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country really changed the way we looked at phasers, as Klingons bled all over the place and even lost limbs), but in general there’s very little impact when one person shoots another. Firely, on the other hand, does a great job of reminding us of the consequences of violence. Two particularly strong examples come to mind: 1. In Ariel, where Jayne and Simon overpower their guards. The sight of the guard desperately bighting Jayne’s hand, fearing for his life, is a sobering one. These people aren’t having fun. They’re not going to make some witty retort when they rise victorious, and then demand “Who’s next?”. They’re fighting for their lives. 2. Mal’s ear in War Stories. We’ve all seen shows where much-loved characters are tortured. It’s amazing how gentle the torturers seem to be – sure they’ll apply shock-collars, jolts of electricity, pain-sticks, and it all looks like it must really hurt… but in the end our hero makes it through and heals up to be as strong and beautiful as ever. But in War Stories, Niska takes things one step further and actually cuts off our hero’s ear. We’ve gone past pain, now we’re talking about mutilation – and all of a sudden this “torture” becomes less fun. As it should be. A similar argument can be made for season five of Angel, when Spike loses both his hands. Now, both Mal and Spike are miraculously restored to full health, but this doesn’t detract from the immediate shock of seeing an uglier, more obscene level of torture than we’re accustomed to. So when someone in Crimson Dark gets shot, I’m going to make it look neither clean nor fun. My bright energy beams don’t just make people glow, they rip through internal organs and mutilate the human body. That’s what guns do, why pretend otherwise? Other thoughts: I screwed up on the second panel. Poor Daniel. I chose a singularly unflattering mixture of expression, lighting and angle. I am the paparazzi of comic artists. 01.17 Insert witty news title here. Monday, the 28th of August, 2006 Explosions are always satisfying to make, and for this one I had to learn how to produce sparks. Every week I get better at blowing things up – I think that’s something to be proud of… in a twisted, mad-scientist sort of way. Great, now I have a mental image of a mad-scientist with a body like a corkscrew, spinning around and around and around…. why must I take my own metaphors so literally? Anyway, Wednesday’s page is going to be a big one. Well, actually it’s going to be exactly the same size as today’s (see, there I go again), but it’s taking me a lot of time and effort to put together – much longer than usual. In fact, this is going to be the first time in the history of Crimson Dark that I’ve taken so long on a page that I’m no longer at least a page ahead of schedule (I prefer to be two pages ahead, it gives me some freedom). I really hope that it doesn’t suck… 01.18 Why don't people say "Huzzah" any more? Wednesday, the 30th of August, 2006 This page took a lot longer than I expected it would - and I expected it would take a long time. But I still managed to get it up on schedule, huzzah! Three issues slowed me down: 1. How to create the illusion of movement I ended up adding some motion blur in Photoshop, but I'm still not entirely happy with the results. I'm going to need to refine this technique. Any Photoshop gurus out there with advice? 2. What colour the goo should be Originally it was dark blue, but this was a bit too clean and sterile - it didn't look violent enough. I changed it to red, but this went too far - it crossed that line which separates violence from gratuitous gore. So I decided to go for orange - it's a strong, dramatic colour which is similar to blood but obviously different. It implies that there's more than just oxygen being carried through those arteries. 3. Whisper Every time I put Whisper in a panel, it takes twice as long to produce. Although her cranial augs are in 3D, all the details on her body need to be added manually in Illustrator and Photoshop. With most characters, adding clothes is relatively easy because there are only a few points where I need to make sure that the clothing conforms to the contours of the body (sleeves, neck etc.) - but Whisper's clothing *is* her body, composed of skin and a flexible metal alloy. Keeping all the seams and details consistent from one panel to the next is harder than it sounds. 01.19 Vote early, vote often Friday, the 1st of September, 2006 Ever since CD was linked to at Whedonesque, I've been trying to keep track of how many readers I actually have. The automated trackers I use provide some helpful details, but they're quite limited. So there are two things which you can do to make me very happy: 1. Vote for Crimson Dark on the Top Webcomics List. The votes reset every month (I think), so lets make this our campaign month. In August, Crimson Dark made it to #166 out of over 4000 listed comics - that's really cool! But I think we can do even better, I would love to see CD make it to the top 100, and possibly even the top 10 in the Sci-Fi category. So please vote as often as you can (the limit is one vote per machine per day): Just click on the button, then answer the question to prove that you're human, and that's that. 2. My trackers only count people who actually visit the website. If you're using a RSS reader like Feedreader then I don't know that you're doing it. Please don't stop - I set up the RSS feed because I want it to make things as convenient for you as possible - but I'd be very grateful if you sent me a quick email letting me know that you're using such a program. These actions will lead to happy David. Happy David leads to more work. More work leads to better Crimson Dark. Hopefully better grammar too. Top Web Comics Meanwhile, today's page returns us to the Infirmary set - newly retextured and relit. I like the soft, bluish lighting in this room, it really sets it apart from the rest of the ship. Oh, a "JAK" is essentially a heavily augmented human being who, upon death, has had all the parts of their brain associated with personality and identity removed and replaced by an Artificial Intelligence. JAKs tend to be used as assasins or saboteurs, sent on suicide missions. The United Terran Coalition has banned their use, but this doesn't stop most of the outer Protectorates from using them anyway. Some JAKs are volunteers (like organ donors, but more holistic), others never know what becomes of their body. You know, when I started Crimson Dark, I told myself that I was going to try and avoid all of the standard webcomic cliches. In the space of just one chapter, I have mentioned pirates and used a Zombie Ninja Cyborg. Wow. 01.20 It feels good to be doing some external scenes again, I get a little claustrophobic when the story stays inside for too long. The Gerushda class destroyer and the Kestrel class fighters have been upgraded since we last saw them in the Prologue. Both are more detailed with new textures (the Kestrel in particular is far more detailed than it used to be), plus I'm being more creative when it comes to composition and lighting. I really like this page. Also there's the all-new Cobra Strike-bomber, at the centre of the formation. We'll learn more about it on page 21. I've been delighted to see so many people voting for Crimson Dark at TopWebComics. Currently we're 51 out of over 4000 comics, and number 4 in the Sci-Fi genre. You've already surpassed my dreams, thankyou! Let's keep it up though, we can make this our month: 01.21 She has a cunning plan... Wednesday, the 6th of September, 2006 It was time for a Blackadder reference, I could resist no longer. In the original script, I had this complicated scenario where Kari recognised that the bomber was not a Taipan as Vaegyr believes, but a Cobra, which relies on intertia bombs rather than guided missiles. There was going to be a long explanation of how the Cobra used it's similarity to the Taipan to fool targets into expecting a missile attack, disguising the incoming bombs which have virtually no heat signature. It was all very clever and well-thought out, but it was also way too talky - and more than a lttile self-indulgant on my part. The final page is much simpler than the original concept, which is often the way that things go. 01.22 It's all about clouds Friday, the 8th of September, 2006 Yeah, so I've been working on improving the look of my explosions. What do you think? It mainly involves the manipulation of clouds. That sounds so cool, doesn't it? It makes me feel like one of those ancient Greek gods that you'd see in Jason and the Argonauts, or Clash of the Titans - looking down on the puny mortals. Wow... ego trip... ok, I'm back now. More specifically, it's about manipulating photos of clouds in Photoshop, though there's a lot of 'digital painting' involved as well. It's actually somewhat similar to the process I use to create my nebulae, which makes sense since nebulae are generally the gaseous remains of exploded stars. Hello to all the new readers who came here from either Mark Horne's blog or topwebcomics, I hope one or two of you might consider staying. Please vote for Crimson Dark, it will give me a buzz and attract more readers: 01.23 Soothes the soul and feeds the muse Monday, the 11th of September, 2006 On weekdays I will typically listen to 702 ABC Sydney while I work on Crimson Dark, but on weekends it all comes down to iTunes. I try to pick my playlists to help set the mood of the page which I'm working on, which is rather easy since the majority of my collection consists of soundtracks from Film, TV and Theatre. For example: For page 23, I listened to my "Battles" play-list. This consists of tracks such as "The Battle of Hoth" (Empire Strikes Back), "Tie Fighter Attack" (A New Hope), Severed Dreams (Babylon 5), "You Have the Power" (Dark City) and "The Bridge of Khazad'Dum" (Fellowship of the Ring). I made a few mistakes in the Art for this page, but I'm hoping that you're all kind enough to forgive (or, even better, that you just won't notice!). Please vote, or you'll make Whisper angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry: 01.24 The dichotomy of purpose Wednesday, the 13th of September, 2006 As both writer and artist, I tend to be torn between two desires: 1. Tell a story 2. Make pretty pictures Much of the joy of working on Crimson Dark is that it allows me to do both at once, but marrying the two disciplines is not always that easy. Part of me wants to advance the story and keep the pace up, another part of me just wants to step back and go "ooh, isn't it pretty?". Today the artist won over the writer, so the primary function of today's page is simply to look pretty, I hope it succeeds at that. It's always difficult trying to judge whether things are moving too slowly or too quickly. I'm conscious of the fact that you, my dear readers, have to wait two or three days for each page - and it must be frustrating when *nothing happens*. But there's also the risk of moving so quickly that we miss precious moments - dialogue which helps to flesh out the characters, insights into the socio-political backdrop of the story... and, of course, pretty pictures. One thing that makes is so hard for me to judge the pace is the fact that I've planned much of the story out months in advance. I'm currently working on pages which I first envisioned roughly three months ago, and I'm not a particularly patient person. However, there are advantages to forcing myself to take things slowly - most notably it allows me to get a good, strong idea of what the story is all about so there can be a continuity of purpose and tone. Though the art has changed dramatically over the past forty-or-so pages, I'd like to think that there has been a consistency in the writing which would not have been there had I been simply making things up as I went. Don't forget to wash me with glee by voting for Crimson Dark: 01.25 Too many games Friday, the 15th of September, 2006 I know, the jump effect changes every time I do it. This is partly because I'm still trying to find an effect which pleases me, partly because it looks quite different against a bright nebula compared to a dark starfield, and partly because I'm lazy and keep on looking for shortcuts. Mostly because I'm lazy. We're nearing the end of Chapter 1 (still a few pages to go though). I'm trying to decide what to do once the chapter is complete - do I dive straight into Chapter 2, or do I take a short break? A break would give me a chance to finish the new sets and ships that I'm building, but I hate the idea of not updating. Hmm. I guess the best solution would be to stop wasting time playing Rome: Total War, Call of Duty 2 and Vampire, The Masquerade: Bloodlines and get back to work! Yeah, like that's going to happen... 01.26 Fire bad... Monday, the 18th of September, 2006 After a week or two of explosions, I hope you guys don't mind if CD turns into a 'talkie' again. I'm starting to feel a little burned out. Producing three pages a week, though quite doable, has a wearisome quality about it. Once Chapter 1 is complete, I plan to take a short break before beginning Chapter 2, during which I'll probably just post filler art (though if anyone feels like doing a guest strip, let me know). It won't be for long though, I'm desperately eager to keep the story moving and I can't bear the thought of staying away from Niobe for long. Meanwhile, I'm also working on a major redesign for the site. The plan is to bring it online to celebrate the start of chapter 2. It's looking shiny so far, I can't wait to show you. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the doomsday device! If you value your lives, vote for Crimson Dark: 01.27 Brain broken, can't think of witty news title Wednesday, the 20th of September, 2006 Today's page is essentially a gag strip. The idea came to me months ago when I was working on Page 2 (where Kari wakes up), but I quickly decided that it just wasn't the kind of thing that she would do. Hal on the other hand... hehehe. Part of the joy of becoming involved in the webcomics community is that I end up discovering so many incredibly cool webcomics made by other people. There are some extraordinarily talented people out there. Recently I stumbled across a couple of gems: Voyage Moyen by Michelle Mauk - it's still quite young so it's hard to pass judgement on characters or plot, but the art is superb and I can't wait to see what happens next. Planet Karen by Karen Ellis - A fairly simple, straightforward blog in comic format. Sometimes funny, other times poignant, always worth it. Every time you vote, a kitten is born. Or run over by a bus. It depends on how you feel about kittens: 01.28 Make it so Friday, the 22nd of September, 2006 I often worry that I might become lazy with the art for CD and turn it into a series of talking-heads. Sometimes I set myself artistic challenges to force myself to keep things visually interesting - today's challenge was "more dark than light". The blurred starfield - a result of the ship's jump-field - moves much slower than you might imagine. There aren't points of light flying past like in Star Wars or Star Trek. Even when travelling at many times the speed of light, most stars are still going to appear to stay still - they're *very* far away. The result is a slowly shifting pattern of light, like watching clouds drifting overhead. It's a beautiful sight. Now, here's the plan: Monday's update will be the final page of Chapter 1 (huzzah!). On Wednesday I'll post some filler for your bemusement, and then on Friday I'll begin Chapter 2 with the title page. Sometime between Monday and Friday the new site design will go live (God willing...). Vote for Crimson Dark. If you were a webcomic, Crimson Dark would vote for you: 01.29 Here endeth the Chapter Monday, the 25th of September, 2006 With today's update, the first chapter of Crimson Dark comes to a close. Yay! Chapter 2 will begin on Friday. I have a LAN Party (a bunch of nerds playing computer games all weekend) on this Labour Day long weekend, during which I don't expect to get any work done at all, but there will be updates on Friday and Monday. I'm working ahead of schedule to make sure of that. However I'm taking this Wednesday off so I can focus on getting the new site design finished. I will be posting some filler on Wednesday, so there'll still be something to look forward to. The new site design will probably take a little time to settle in (I'm not particularly good at this sort of thing), so please be patient if things aren't working properly for a little while. My current plan is to bring it online sometime tomorrow. I'll probably be moving house sometime in the next month or so. Hopefully this won't have any impact on the update schedule here, but I wanted to warn you just in case. Chapter 2 02.00 The announcement Friday, the 29th of September, 2006 I've been working on this page for *months*. Yes, that's the aforementioned Espenson Station, and yes, it's named after Jane Espenson. She's been a tremendous influence on my writing, firstly as a result of watching Buffy, Angel and Firefly (which she helped to write, and have each inspired Crimson Dark to a certain extent), but now thanks to her wonderful blog through which she gives tips and advice to upcoming writers. Though skewed towards writing for television, her thoughts are widely applicable and of great use to anyone who is even remotely interested in the art of storytelling. In fact, if you just enjoy stringing words together into sentences, then I guarantee that you'll find Jane's blog helpful. Now for the announcement which I promised on Wednesday: Soon you will be able to buy Crimson Dark in printed form! A few readers have emailed me suggesting that I turn CD into a book, and I've chosen to acquiesce. I haven't decided on the price or publication date yet, but it should be quite affordable. My hope is that, aside from relieving eyestrain from reading computer screens in darkly lit rooms, I might be able to start making some money off Crimson Dark so I can cover the expenses involved (at the moment I make nothing from CD at all, at this rate those Google Ads aren't going to start paying off until 2009). I'll make a promise right now, however, that I will *never* charge you to read CD online. This webcomic will always be 100% free to the reader. Before I publish the book, however, I want to go back and improve the artwork - and that's the second part of the announcement. Over the next few months I will update every page in the Prologue, and the first few pages of Chapter 1, to reflect my new art style. I'm not pulling a George Lucas though, I'll be leaving the original versions online as well and you will always be able to view them by clicking the link in the commentary for each page. The first three pages of the Prologue (including the Title Page) have already been done, so check them out. I don't know how long it will take to finish this task, as I'm not going to let it intefere with my work on Chapter 2. LAN Party this weekend, woohoo! Bonus and Filler BF.01 Filler: Niobe in Progress Fifty pages and counting! Wednesday, the 27th of September, 2006 Here’s the filler, as promised. Chapter 2 will begin on Friday with a title-page, and an announcement. I promise that I will only ever post filler pages *between* chapters, never during one. Meanwhile the new site is up and running, including the return of the old forums. If you spot any broken links, please let me know (I really suck at web design), and any feedback you have on the design/layout would be warmly welcomed. I realised as I was working on today’s filler that Crimson Dark is now fifty pages old. This seems like a perfect time to reflect on the past few months. I started Crimson Dark for a number of reasons, the main one being a burning need to tell a story. But another big factor has been my ongoing struggle with chronic depression. I was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with being unemployed, and I desperately needed something productive to do – a practical reason for getting up in the morning. Now I feel like I have a purpose, and it’s largely thanks to you. I’m amazed by the way that people have been spreading the word about Crimson Dark. Some have been mentioning it in their blogs, others have been posting about it on forums, many having been voting. This, combined with the emails which people send me, is incredibly encouraging – it gives me the motivation I need to produce the next page. So thankyou all! Anyone living in the region of Penrith (Western Sydney) who feels like dropping in on our LAN Party this weekend should send me an email. It's a fairly laid-back affair, just a few of us (mostly friends form church) playing games and having BBQs. Please vote for Crimson Dark, or suffer the consequences (do you really think you can endure three hours of me going "pleasepleasepleaseplease..."?): Category:Comic